The subject of the present invention is a ski boot consisting essentially of a shell forming the sole and the upper and of a lower-leg collar articulated on the shell and equipped with an inner reinforcement element fixed to the collar and reinforcing the side of the boot which corresponds to the inner side of the leg.
A boot of this type is known from Patent FR 2,649,594, the content of which is incorporated by reference. In this boot, the collar is equipped with a reinforcement having a relatively rigid plate fixed adjustably and removably to the inner face of the collar. This plate is made from synthetic material, but could be made from metal or from glass fibers or from carbon fibers. Its aim is to improve the quality of transmission of the sideways force of the leg to the ski so as to improve ski control. Otherwise, this boot behaves as a boot without reinforcement, particularly as regards being put on and taken off.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,867,924, the content of which is incorporated by reference, discloses, moreover, a ski boot whose collar is equipped with a front plate serving as a support for the tibia. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,442, the content of which is incorporated by reference, furthermore, describes use of auxiliary reinforcement pieces of asymmetric shape which, depending on their position, make it possible to improve the dynamic characteristics of the boot either for slalom and skiing on ice or for downhill skiing. These pieces are fixed removably under the front part of the collar.
The present invention has a different aim. Its object is to improve comfort and to make it easier to put the boot on and to take it off without prejudicing the performance levels of the boot, i.e. its dynamic characteristics. In other words, the invention is a boot manufactured using flexible and therefore comfortable materials, the dynamic characteristics of which, particularly support toward the inside and toward the front, and flexing, are modified by the addition of the reinforcement.
To this end, the boot according to the invention is defined in that the reinforcement element has a semi-rigid piece in the form of a half-collar fixed to the collar, the semi-rigid piece surrounding the upper edge of the shell over slightly more than half of the periphery of the collar, and having a means for making the reinforcement interfere with the shell so that the reinforcement element controls the flexibility of the boot during flexing of the leg.
In this way, it is possible to produce a boot whose shell is relatively flexible and comfortable, in which inner-side support and tibia support is ensured by the reinforcement piece, when the collar is closed. When the collar is opened to be put on or take off the boot, it releases the flexibility of the shell in such a manner that the latter may be more easily put on and taken off.
A further considerable advantage of the invention is the possibility, due to a minimum shell flexibility (for example 54 Shore D) and a relatively flexible collar, of producing boots of different rigidity by means of the addition of a reinforcement which is varies in thickness. This greatly facilitates stock management.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the inner side of the upper edge of the shell has a V-shaped notch and the reinforcement element has, on its inner face, a wedge-shaped projection which, in the closed position of the boot, fits into the V-shaped notch. The effect of the V-shaped notch is to facilitate opening of the shell for putting the boot on, the wedge-shaped projection of the reinforcement element eliminating this additional flexibility once the boot has been put on.
Moreover, the reinforcement piece advantageously bears frontally against the upper edge of the shell, ensuring continuity of thickness and continuity of the inner face of the shell.